The Herald editorial says that "Commissioners' cozy relationship with lobbyists, consultants breaks public trust" and it has to stop. Agree. They also give a remedy: "A real clean-up of how business is done at City and County halls will require citizens to vote out the business-as-usual bunch." Disagree. Will never happen as citizens don't get/believe ethical-lapse news on their politicians. The State Attorney and the 4th Estate (Newspaper) has to do the job - get them arrested or to resign. Readers, make sure you hit on the "related content" at the Herald Link and read the Grand Jury Report from 1999, which is now just sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. There are some good recommendations in that Grand Jury report that should have been implemented, here are a few:
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Restructure the office to provide legal oversight regarding both the form and the substance of county contracts: We recommend that the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office be restructured to provide legal oversight over county contracts that is designed to address both the form of the contract and the substance of the underlying business deal. This office should take the lead in ensuring that county government and county departments exercise due diligence in all contractual matters. It should also provide the people of Miami-Dade County with swift enforcement, through litigation if necessary, of the contractual obligations of private business. In this regard, emphasis should be placed upon actions to obtain records needed to complete the county’s audits of existing contracts.
XI. RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO LOBBYISTS
1. Remove the ability of anyone registered to lobby contracts before the Miami-Dade County Commission to engage in fund-raising for political campaigns relating to those elected positions and for the position of Miami-Dade County Mayor: We recommend that the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners enact an ordinance providing that no individual who is or becomes registered to lobby the Miami-Dade County Commission or the Mayor of Miami-Dade County concerning a government contract, and no group, partnership or firm that is associated with or employs any such individual, may engage in any form of fund-raising for the campaign of any member of, or candidate for, the Miami-Dade County Commission or the Mayor of Miami-Dade County. The sole exception to this prohibition should be an individual contribution to the maximum permitted by law. Our intent with this recommendation is to remove any link, real or perceived, between campaign fund-raising and the manner by which government contracts are developed, solicited and awarded.
2. To support the enforcement of this prohibition, all campaigns for election, or re-election, to the Miami-Dade County Commission and the office of Miami-Dade County Mayor should be required to report the identities of all entities or individuals who conduct fund-raising efforts on their behalf: We recommend that the Miami-Dade County Commission enact an ordinance requiring any and all candidates for local elected offices, including incumbents seeking re-election, file with the Miami-Dade County Department of Elections a list of any and all individuals who have raised funds for their campaign (other than a personal contribution on behalf of themselves) that clearly identifies the names, amounts and occupations of those from whom these contributions were received.
3. Provide the positions and funding needed to permit a statistical analysis, relating to county contracts, to determine if there is any correlation between the votes of commissioners and the hiring of lobbyists: Should our recommendations intended to remove the Miami-Dade County Commission and the Mayor of Miami-Dade County from the development, solicitation and approval of contracts not be followed, we recommend that the Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Commission be provided with appropriate funding and personnel to permit a statistical study to be conducted and published bi-annually, with the intent of determining if there is any link or pattern
between the voting record of the commissioners and any and all registered lobbyists.
Should a pattern be determined to exist, all information relating to this study should be immediately referred to the Miami-Dade County Police Department’s Public Corruption
Unit, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office and the Miami-Dade County Inspector General’s Office for an expedited investigation.
4. Provide greater public accountability for the manner by which registered lobbyists appear before the Miami-Dade County Commission: We further recommend that the Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Commission utilize a computer database during commission meetings to verify that a particular person who wishes to address the commission as a lobbyist is in fact registered as a lobbyist, has complied with all requirements of that registration, and has paid all applicable fees before they are permitted to speak. In addition, it should be a requirement that every lobbyist clearly announce their name as well as the name of the entity they have been hired to represent.
10 comments:
I think that if you don't change the attitude of people who are elected before they are elected... it will always be more of same.
As long as doing for others, means doing whatever it is to benefit me, my family and my bank account... we are going to have corruption that is out of control.
Dade County Corruption and it's national headlines (make that international) is embarrassing. We are nationally known for the housing crash and Medicare corruption among other things. That is really great for the financial industry on Brickell. Trust us!
The Grand Jury recommendations are similar to what came out of the charter review exercise last year. They are sitting on a shelf too. Face it, commissioners are not going to monitor their actions and the State Attorney looks the other way! It ain't looking good for an honest government.
Corruption will continue. It is too easy for elected officials to get re-elected. Look at their massive taxpayer financed slush funds they use to buy support. Even when elected official's decisions cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, they still get re-elected. For example, Dennis Moss, Bruno Barrerio, Audrey Edmundson and Joe Sanchez pushed the bailout of the Marlins. That stupid decision will cost the taxpayers over $2 bil.
These are actual endorsements from The Mami Herald:
August 31, 2004
District 3:
BARBARA CAREY-SHULER
Barbara Carey-Shuler 's leadership as the County Commission's first commission-elected chair has earned her our recommendation for another term. She has shown breadth and maturity, qualities particularly noticeable during a time when the mayor was basically absent from Miami-Dade as he was running for the U.S.Senate. Ms. Carey-Shuler restored civility and a respect for the public that was often missing from earlier commission proceedings. She prodded County Manager George Burgess and Election Supervisor Connie Kaplan to take steps to ensure the integrity and accuracy of elections. She pushed for an independent authority to oversee Miami International Airport. Her efforts were blocked by other commissioners opposed to ceding control over MIA and opposed to letting the voters decide who should manage the airport. The district includes portions of North Miami, Central Miami and near South Miami.
If re-elected, Ms. Carey-Shuler wants to concentrate on economic-development initiatives, including pushing for an Enterprise Zone and working with the Beacon Council to bring new business to the urban core.
November 26, 2005
OUR OPINION: FOR MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DISTRICT 5
Voters in this runoff election have a choice on Tuesday between candidates with similar ideas about the district's problems, but sharp differences in their approach to the job. That should make the choice relatively easy for voters because one approach is divisive, and the other offers a chance for effective leadership, something the district sorely needs.
Michelle Spence-Jones , a former top advisor to Mayor Manny Diaz, is the better choice for this district, which includes communities such as Wynwood, Little Haiti, Buena Vista, Spring Garden, Overtown and Liberty City.
In the Nov. 8 election, Ms. Spence-Jones , 38, got slightly more votes (32 percent) than her closest rival, Richard Dunn, (28 percent) in a crowded field of nine candidates. Mr. Dunn, 48, pastor of a Pembroke Pines church, is running an aggressive anti-establishment campaign that pitches Ms. Spence-Jones as a ``yes man'' to the mayor. The problem with that is that Ms. Spence-Jones ' record shows her to be strongly independent and nobody's rubber stamp.
The fact that Ms. Spence-Jones once worked for Mayor Diaz and enjoys his confidence is an asset that, hopefully, she will put to good use on behalf of the district. Both Ms. Spence-Jones and Mr. Dunn say that they would work to bring more jobs and affordable housing to the district.
As the mayor's senior advisor on urban issues, Ms. Spence-Jones has been actively engaged in working on such projects in Overtown, Liberty City and other areas in the district. In addition to jobs and affordable housing, Ms. Spence-Jones says she wants to focus on neighborhood-revitalization projects that can improve the quality of life for residents and help to reverse the departure of residents from the
district.
This district is long overdue for an effective leader.
For Miami City Commission, District 5, The Herald recommends MICHELLE SPENCE-JONES .
The list goes on and on. The Miami Herald needs to put their money where their mouth is.
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Jackie Bueno Sousa in Monday's Herald has given a plausible explanation on why we can't get the bums out:
The act has so permeated Cuban society that stealing from the government no longer elicits shame, not even by a father speaking of his son.
It's not always possible to leave such an attitude behind; you don't wash it away with 90 miles of ocean water or wipe it away with a green card. As a result, the attitude finds its way here more often than it should.
Except that here, it's usually not about stealing rice to help feed your family or illegally hooking onto a satellite connection because it's the only way to know what's happening in the world.
No, here, there should be shame. Shame in the lies, shame in the deceit and, most of all, shame in killing the dream of a new way of life by not shedding the unsavory ways of an old one.
Yeah it's the Cuban's fault, Richard Daley,William "Boss" Tweed, Chester Arthur, Rod Blagoyavich, Ted Stevens,Aaron Burr, Ray Blanton, Edwin Edwards, Huey "Kingfish" Long, Bud Dwyer, Spiro Agnew, William Jefferson, Johnny Jones, Carmen Lunetta, etc
We know that these were all Cuban refugess responsible for our corrupt society and government.
Please give it a rest.....
"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely" Lord Acton (probably Cuban too)
CHEO:
So you don't agree with the right wing conservative Miami Herald CUBAN Columnist?
Right Wing? Who wrote it isn't what matters (Mother Theresa or Abbie Hoffman could have written it and I would feel the same) it's the content of her article that counts and quite honestly I find it needlessly self loathing.
Sure there are corrupt and unscrupulous Cuban's but those types of folks exist in all human sub groups. Do you remember Henry Milander? I do, and if memory serves me right he wasn't from Las Villas. And who can forget Steve Shiver he surely wasn't from Havana. Larry King bounced all thos checks and skipped town , but he wasn't from Santiago.
So the answer is definite NO I don't like Bueno-Sosa's (Malo-Sosa in my book) commentary. She can loathe herself if she wants but she shouldn't lump me in.
The Cuban columnist claims Cubans do not object when they see corruption and she claims some Cubans are somehow involved in the corruption.
I don't agree with her.
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